More of the Story

There are a few things that I learned while we met with Eileen. First, she is not an agent, she is a manager and PR specialist. She will get Katie agents for both modeling and acting. She will be responsible for guiding Katie and hooking her up with the right people. She will handle all PR and publicity moving forward. The agents are the ones who then find work for the talent, and agents specialize in different fields. That's why she will need 2 different agents.

Eileen feels that although Katie is perfect for modeling (the look, the body, etc) that we should not focus on that. Modeling is a short-lived career for most and a business that is brutal. She told us that if Katie was her daughter, she would rather move her towards acting and print work, away from runway/high fashion. My sentiments exactly.

She also told Katie she was very beautiful, but that beautiful girls were everywhere. It takes more than beauty to be successful. She told her that actresses and models need to have brains and business smarts. They need drive and focus. They need to know how to work hard and make good decisions. And that you need to have a thick skin because there is a lot of rejection in this industry. You can't let it get to you. These are all things we have been telling her, but to hear it from the expert carried a lot more weight.

Eileen also told her to never stop working on her education. The showbiz part should always come second to her real future. If she made it huge in the business, great, but she will always need a sound career to fall back on.

We discussed building a portfolio, etc, and Eileen's idea is to start with some digital photos that I will take, then send her for some head shots by a pro. Eileen will begin to shop these around, and once she lands a modeling agent, then they will send her for free test shoots and that will build her portfolio. We could hire a photographer to shoot one for us, but it would be very expensive and Eileen feels it isn't necessary. She thinks she can get Katie an agent very quickly and then everything else will follow at no cost to us. She will only need the head shots and casual photos to land the agents.

Tonight I will finally download a bunch of photos and give you a pictoral update tomorrow. Plus, the second half of our trip we visited family and I have some of the most adorable pix of my nieces and nephews.